After clinching the year-end No. 1 ranking, Rafael Nadal will continue his Paris campaign when he goes up against Pablo Cuevas in the Paris third round on Thursday. Dominic Thiem and Fernando Verdasco are also aiming for a place in the quarterfinals.
(1) Rafael Nadal vs. Pablo Cuevas
The year-end No. 1 ranking has been clinched. Nadal locked it up for the fourth time in his illustrious career when he defeated Hyeon Chung 7-5, 6-3 in the second round of the Rolex Paris Masters on Wednesday. The top-seeded Spaniard is 66-10 this season with two Grand Slam titles and four other winners’ trophies (including two at Masters 1000 tournaments) plus a runner-up performance at the Australian Open. He is 17-0 in his last 17 matches against opponents other than Roger Federer.
It is safe to say that Nadal is not facing Federer on Thursday; not even close. Cuevas had not won a single match since the French Open prior to his arrival in Paris, a brutal stretch that saw him compile an 0-10 record. Out of absolutely nowhere, the 36th-ranked Uruguayan has picked up victories this week over Karen Khachanov (6-4, 6-2) and Albert Ramos-Vinolas (6-7(5), 7-6(1), 6-2). Cuevas is 1-3 lifetime against Nadal with a clay-court upset in last year’s Rio de Janeiro semifinals. With Nadal in stellar form and the underdog nothing short of hopeless over the last five months, another upset will not be taking place.
Pick: Nadal in 2 losing 5-7 games
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(5) Dominic Thiem vs. Fernando Verdasco
Thiem and Verdasco will be going head-to-head for just the second time in their careers on Thursday. Their only previous encounter came two years ago at Wimbledon, where Verdasco prevailed 5-7, 6-4, 5-7, 6-3, 6-4. The Spaniard is a bigger underdog now according to the rankings (No. 39 to No. 6), but current form suggests otherwise. Thiem, as usual, has been a borderline disaster since the end of the clay-court swing. The 24-year-old Austrian is 8-9 in his last 17 tournament matches, but he at least managed to hold off lucky loser Peter Gojowyczk 6-4, 6-7(3), 6-4 on Tuesday.
Verdasco is coming off a semifinal performance last week in Stockholm and so far in Paris he has taken out Andrey Rublev and Kevin Anderson. The 33-year-old sent Rublev packing for the NextGen ATP Finals in Milan with a 7-6(1), 7-6(6) victory and he eliminated Anderson from World Tour Finals contention by getting the job done 5-7, 6-4, 7-5. This is a good opportunity for a confident Verdasco against a struggling opponent who has admitted that indoor hard courts are a rough surface for his game.
Pick: Verdasco in 3
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For virtually the first time in his career Rafa has been playing ‘free from pain’ (his own words). I guess it was too much to hope he would get to the WTF unscathed by the heavy schedule – now it looks like he’s paying the price 🙁 With 20/20 hindsight it’s easy for us, the media and the pundits to pontificate about what he should or shouldn’t have done.
Let’s be grateful for the joy and happiness he has brought us in 2017.
If Rafa did not see knee problems coming, then it might be foolish on his part given the history of his knees. He did not rest well after USO as he could not decline Fed’s offer to play Laver Cup and obviously the huge apperance money there.
Fed has his share of mistakes playing year end exhos which softened him up before AO. Fed played approx 60 matches in 2013 when he was the same age as Rafa, although he played less because he lost early.
Rafa’s body lasted around 65 matches as well. So, he should restrict him to this number and not go beyond these many matches a lot.
He was all well after this year’s USO win. It all gave in the indoor season.
You said it all Eugene 🙂
I just can’t put one above the other, the GOAT is somewhere between them.
I think it’s appropriate that we celebrate Rafa and Fed’s great seasons. It has been a gift to tennis fans. Everyone thought it would be about Novak and Murray. But Fedal stepped up and owned this year.
We should just be grateful to be alive to watch two all-time greats defying age and showing all of us how it’s done.
That is why I dislike the concept of a GOAT. Both Rafa and Fed have accomplished so much, set the bar so high and have so many records. They are both the epitome of greatness.
Facts!! Let’s be honest people they’re both GOATs
I agree 100% with Ben.
Yup, both (Nadal & Federer) are GOATS! Both are GOATS in the sense that both eat fodder/Grass but they generally eat different kinds !lol
Nadal GOAT likes to eat the soft fodder/Grass ( eat/beat the ATP players playing on the soft clay surface).
Fed GOAT, likes to eat the harder fodder/GRASS (likes to eat/beat the hard court players and virtually eat the Green GRASS (GRASS court players on the GRASS courts!lol)!
So, we have to respect both the GOATS and feed them the appropriate fodder!Ha,ha,ha…
The thing is, if Rafa didn’t play so many matches, he won’t get so many points that he could secure the YE no.1.
No one, including Rafa, could’ve predicted such a good season for Rafa; I guess he originally wanted to enter some 20 events (excluding the WTF) with Rotterdam, Queens and Basel in his schedule. Perhaps, he thought he won’t go far at AO, and so he included Rotterdam in his schedule. He skipped that after reaching final of AO.
I do feel the AO had taken a lot out of him, grinding out five setters thrice; that SF vs Dimi was really a serious grind ( I hate to see Rafa vs Dimi matches because each time Dimi would go all out just wanting to beat Rafa so badly and Rafa had to spend so much time and effort beating Dimi).
He’s out of this world on clay but I feel he should skip Rome, maybe he would then have enough energy to play at Queens and that might have helped him at Wimbledon. He doesn’t need that three matches at Rome to prepare for the FO! It’s not like he was beaten badly by Muller at Wimbledon, he had his chances in the extended fifth set, maybe with better preparation on grass he would be able to cross the finishing line with success?
I do feel that if Rafa wants to go far on grass, he has to somehow cut down on the clay events prior to the grass season, so that he can have enough energy and time for warm up event on grass. His Montreal/Cincy tournaments were disastrous, one of his worst since losing early there in 2011 ( 2015 was another), surprising for the good year that he had. Thankfully that did not affect his USO, I guess having played at least five warm up matches was good enough for him.
After the Laver Cup, even Fed was surprised that Rafa played at Beijing, so soon after LC. Perhaps, Rafa liked the momentum that he had playing at LC and he had a very successful Asian swing by his standard.
Maybe, just maybe, if he skipped Rome and played at Queens with better results at Wimbledon, that could’ve pushed him to secure the YE no.1 by Shanghai, and so he could then skip Basel and Paris altogether, giving him four weeks to recover from his knee issue and then be ready for WTF.
Lucky had he not played Asian swing he would not have been year end no 1. Those 1100 points made a big difference. Rafa admitted it himself that the clincher was the Asian swing.
Sanjay, read my post again. Where did I say he should skip Asian swing? I said he should skip Rome, played Queens, and skipped Basel and Paris. Read again.
No I am not saying you said to skip. I said this year that was the clincher for no 1. The 1100 points added.
Yeah, and replacing Rome with Queens may help him at Wimbledon and gain more points enough for him to secure YE no.1 after playing Shanghai and so he can afford to skip Paris. I just don’t see why he had to play at Rome when it’s obvious to us all (and Im sure to he himself) that he’s so tired after winning MC/Barcelona/Madrid and winning many matches in early HC season.
Yeah. I know Rafa is the type of player who needs matches to warm up for a big tournament, but never understood why he’s playing so many events before FO. Just play 3 max. Enough. Then go to FO more energized and warm up in the first 1-3 rounds if you need more.
I still feel he will try to play wtf but will eventually pull out seeing he can’t compete at his best.
My guess is he won’t play WTF. I think one week rest is not enough for his knee to recover. Had he played better at Wimbledon, or Montreal/Cincy, he might secure YE no.1 by Shanghai and so could afford to skip Basel/Paris altogher and had more time to rest and recover to play WTF. Too bad, some mistakes in his playing schedule and he’s paying the price now.
Yes he will attempt but pull out as he can’t compete is what I feel. He said he knows what issue is and the treatment as it has previously worked. So he will surely attempt.
Scheduling has always been a problem. In 2010 he did not play Barcelona, only 3 Masters 1000 on clay and he benefited. 2013 he lasted full schedule because he did not play AO and did not play Miami.
2017 his scheduling is awful.
I think in 2010 he did not play basel paris too.i remember he was on a break before wtf.
But in 2013 he played 3 tournaments in feb back to back winning 2. He was rested too for 6 months as he cut down on 2012 at wimby so that may have helped 2013 majorly.
Rafa should cut his schedule from 17 to 15 or even 14 events. He’ll be 32 next year. He won’t be penalized for playing fewer events come next year.
I hope he just plays Brisbane, AO, one of IW/Miami; on clay MC, Barcelona and Madrid (since he won’t skip his home events) and FO; plays Queens and Wimbledon; either Canada or Cincy or both and then USO. After LC, either skips Asian swing and plays Basel or Paris (Basel because he has contract to play there) plus WTF, or plays Asian swing (Asia being a big market for Rafa and his sponsors) and skips Basel/Paris and then plays WTF.
In hindsight, Rafa should be looking at how his fans are worried about his overplay.
While the star players are busy minting heavy appearance money and accommodating new tournaments just and just for the sake of money, at the same time fans pray for his well being. What an irony !!
Yeah, I guess both Fed and Rafa not only want the titles, but also the appearance fees and year end bonuses. I think they have to make appearances at WTF if they qualify in order to earn the year end bonus. Fed with bad back still played at YEC at Shanghai in 2008; Rafa made his appearance at YEC Shanghai in 2005 though he was not playing due to injury.
It’s a bit unfair, that regardless of how many Masters a player played in, once he missed the WTF (YEC) he’s not entitled to any YE bonus. Rafa missed getting the bonus in 2008 because he didn’t play or attend the WTF that year because of injury, even though he played in all nine Masters that year.
I must say sometimes it’s the sponsorship pressure; the players may have to play certain events because their sponsors have or want to have a share of the market for their products there.